How to Make a Font Using Corel
Creating your own fonts can not only be fun, it also can be a helpful skill to have if you are looking for a special font for a presentation, want to create a personal logo for your own business, or are considering copyrighting and selling your own custom fonts. You can draw fonts with a variety of software programs, but the tricky part is saving, or exporting, your drawings into a file extension your computer will recognize as a font. CorelDraw is able to export files as TrueType or PostScript fonts, two of three common types of printable fonts used on Windows platform computers. If you use an Apple computer, you will not be able to use CorelDraw to create fonts because Macs are unable to use a font filter, which adds special effects to characters.
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Instructions
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Plan a general idea of what you want your typeface to look like. Take into consideration the height of regular and capital letters. You can resize one design automatically, making it unnecessary to make different sizes of your font.
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Choose the size to design your characters. CorelDraw Tips & Tricks recommends using 720 points so your characters will match up with CorelDraw's export function. Make sure all your characters are the same thickness and be careful not to make them too complex, or use too many nodes -- points that connect the lines in your characters.
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Create a font template by setting your character page to "point" measurements. Using "Object Manager," create a second layer on top of the base layer and place your template reference marks on the top layer to keep characters uniform. Lock you reference marks in place by clicking "Arrange" and then "Lock Object."
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Drag the ruler grid so that it lines up with the bottom left corner of your character template. This sets the "zero origin" which you will need when exporting your characters.
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Create all the characters of your font in one CorelDraw document by using a multiple page drawing file. This way you can create all your characters in one 100-page file, with a single character stored on each page. Name each page with the character drawn on it for easy recognition.
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Use CorelDraw tools to help you form your characters. The "Snap to Guidelines," "Dynamic Guides" and "Snap to Objects" features in CorelDraw allow you to align your cursor more easily when you draw each character. Create contour effects with the "Interactive Contour Tool" to vary character weight.
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Export your font one character at a time. Choose "File," "Export," "Export as...," then click "TrueType" or "Type 1" for Adobe PostScript fonts. Name your font in the "File Name" box and click the "Symbol" box if your character is a symbol and not a letter. Expand the dialog box by clicking "Options" and click the box to choose "Selected Only." Click "Accept," and highlight the character that matches yours in the dialog box. Click "OK," then choose "Yes" in the box that opens. This box will only appear when you export the first character in your font.
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Repeat the exporting process for each of the characters in your font.
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Tips & Warnings
You may wish to refine your font, especially if you plan to market it. CorelDraw doesn't offer fine-tuning tools, but other software programs can professionally adjust kerning -- spacing between characters.
Complicated outlines in characters may cause exporting or printing problems. Generally the fewer nodes you use to create a character, the less likely you are to experience problems. Use the "Shape Tool" in combination with the "Reduce Nodes" button, or try using the "Curve Smoothness" slider in the Property Bar to simplify your characters.
Problems with Type 1 or PostScript fonts can arise, and CorelDraw is able to export TrueType fonts more reliably.
For your characters to work as a font, you must design them as closed-path objects with no loose ends. If there is a problem with the way you designed your character, you will receive an error message when you try to export it.
References
Resources
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